


This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine

by Kaleidoscope_Carousel



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 16:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1751552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaleidoscope_Carousel/pseuds/Kaleidoscope_Carousel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a prompt on Tumblr: Nysara, Pacific Rim crossover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place somewhere around the beginning of the Jaeger program, when it is still in full swing and all of the Shatterdomes are in operation. I did do research on the wiki, but I've changed some things here and there to suit the story and the translation of characters from Arrow to this universe. I hope people enjoy this, there's more I want to tell, but I had to get this first bit out at least because it's probably been over a month since I got the prompt.  
> Title is from The Tempest

The roar of water is loud in Sara’s ears, and the taste of salt fills her mouth as the vortex created by the sinking boat rips her from the cabin and pulls her under into the dark, cold ocean. She tries to hold her breath, but something slams into her stomach and she’s choking, panting for air but only swallowing more water into her lungs; she’s fighting for the surface, clawing at the dark waves with as much strength as her oxygen deprived body will allow. With one last desperate kick, her head breaches the surface and her eyes fly open.

Sara wakes up panting, safe in her room in Hong Kong. Her hair is plastered to her forehead, and she’s managed to kick the blankets half way off the bed. She sits still for a moment, letting the last of the terror from the nightmare ebb away. It’s been five years, but she still occasionally dreams of the night the Queen’s Gambit went down, the night something from a B-horror movie emerged from the depths, its vast bulk displacing enormous amounts of water and capsizing the ship. Kaiju. Sara can still hear the screams of the crew, and she can still see the look on Oliver’s face when she was pulled through the wreckage of the hull into the bitter cold of the Pacific. That was the last time she ever saw Ollie. For a few years Sara hoped that maybe he’d somehow survived, but now she only hopes his death was quick, that he’d been gone, too, before the Kaiju had spotted the ship and smashed it into pieces with one swift smack of its tail. 

Sara had managed to cling to a piece of the wreckage, and she’d floated for what felt like days, before washing up on the shore. She’d ended up somewhere on mainland China, in the remains of what had once been a small fishing village. Some of the other refugees had taken pity on her, this half-dead stranger, washed up in the wake of the monster’s attack. They’d given her clothes, and a little food, and helped bring her to the camp that became her temporary home. Sara had stayed at that camp for a little over a year, and that was where she had first met Shado. 

Shado, who had studied abroad for two years in Vancouver and spoke perfect English, Shado who’d rescued Sara from a group of men who’d been harassing her, Shado who had taken Sara under her wing and taught her how to defend herself with words and with weapons.

Shado, who along with her father, had gone down with their Jaeger six months ago fighting a Category III Kaiju.

It was Shado who had told Sara about the Jaeger program. Her dark eyes shining as she translated the rapid speech coming over the refugee camp’s one radio. “We are going to fight back, Sara,” she’d said, “we will face the monsters, and we will survive.” The words were a comfort, considering the news Shado had translated only a few months before, the news about the Kaiju attack on the United States, and the earthquake that had levelled Starling City. Only a handful of people had survived. Sara hoped that Shado’s words were true, and she would come home safely.

But Shado hadn’t, and here Sara was, following once more in her friend’s footsteps. The Kaiju had taken everything from her: her boyfriend, her family, and her best friend. She wasn’t going to take it sitting down anymore.

She’d signed up to the Jaeger program immediately after she’d heard about the fall of Shado and the Lian Yu. Six months of intensive training followed, culminating in today, the day she’d find out if she made the final cut, the day she’d finally know if she’d qualify to climb into a Jaeger and send the monsters back to the hell they’d crawled out of. There were twelve graduates in her class, and only three Jaegers ready for combat. Sara was determined that she would be one of the ones to suit up and fight back. It was that determination that had seen her through some of the most gruelling months of her life.

Shaking off her reminiscences, Sara jumps out of bed and begins the morning ritual of running through her patterns, all 52 positions of Jaeger Bushido. After so long the movements are instinctive, and Sara relaxes into them, calming her nerves for the day ahead. 

The excitement and nerves are palpable as the trainees gather in the Kwoon Combat Room to begin the day’s trials. Despite everything Sara can feel the fluttering of anxiousness in her belly as she stands at attention with her classmates. Their instructors and heads of the Shatterdome are gathered at one end of the hall, along with a woman that Sara has never seen before. She’s wearing the same black tank top and loose black pants as the rest of the trainee pilots, but Sara knows that if she were one of the trainees she would be down there with the rest of them. Besides, she would have remembered seeing someone as beautiful as this woman before.

“Who’s that?” she whispers to Wei Chien, one of the only other female candidates in Sara’s class. They’ve never gotten along particularly well, but they have a grudging respect for each other and their abilities.

“That’s Nyssa al Ghul,” Chien whispers back, “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of her. She was top in her class at the Shatterdome in Vladivostok, she and her sister Talia. They were supposed to be some new ultimate fighting force, especially considering their father is the Marshal there. But on their first mission something went wrong and Talia ended up chasing the rabbit. Nearly got everyone killed, and their father benched her. Nyssa’s been looking for a new co-pilot ever since, but apparently no one in Vladivostok is good enough for her. Looks like she’s branching out to other bases now.” Sara glances over again to where Nyssa is deep in discussion with their combat instructor. She’s tall, taller than Sara by a fair margin, and her dark hair falls in a glossy cascade from her ponytail. Her eyes are dark, too, so brown they are almost black, and her face is solemn as she speaks with Sifu Dao. He nods at something she says, and then turns to face the room of cadets.

“Welcome,” he says, “to your final day of Jaeger academy. Today we will be making the final cuts and deciding which of you will go on to serve as Rangers in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. You have all done well to even make it this far and there will be officer’s roles for each and every one of you even if being a Ranger is not in your immediate destiny. There will be two levels of testing today, and combined with your results in the Pons and Drivesuit simulators this will determine your future. First we will be testing your knowledge of Jaeger Bushido, after the demonstration of patterns, the sparring begins. Each cadet will have a chance to spar with every other classmate to determine potential drift compatibility.  
But enough talk. Let us begin.” 

As one, Sara and the other cadets bow to their Sifu, and retreat to line the walls of the room. Sifu Dao calls their names one by one, and names six of the possible 52 patterns. Once the demonstration is finished, the cadet bows again and retreats to wait for the rest of the class to finish. 

When Sara’s name is called, she walks out onto the centre of the mat with purpose, although her stomach is in knots and she can feel her palms starting to sweat. “8, 23, 32, 46, 48, 50” Sifu Dao says. Sara closes her eyes, empties her mind, and begins. 

Although she is not doing all of the patterns in sequence, her body remembers easily each and every position, pivot, and sweep of limbs. The more she moves, the more she can feel her anxiousness seep away, until nothing is left but a calm determination. When she finishes the final move and bows to the gathered instructors, she notices the woman, Nyssa, eyeing her appraisingly. Buoyed by her success she looks straight into those dark eyes and gives her a cheeky grin. Nyssa doesn’t smile back, but the corner of her mouth twitches upwards slightly. Sara counts that as a victory. 

She has little time to savour it, before her name is called once again, this time along with Wei Chien’s. Before the bout of hand to hand combat is even halfway through, she knows that the two of them have very little compatibility. Chien gets in two good hits that Sara doesn’t even see coming, but Sara comes back and manages to take her down, four to two. She’s so mad at herself for not being able to read Chien better that she almost misses the way Nyssa is staring at her after the match. She looks over just in time, and feels a blush start creeping up the back of her neck that definitely has nothing to do with the adrenaline of the fight. 

Her attention is split all through the rest of the trial, except when it is her turn again to spar. She knows she should be watching and evaluation her fellow cadets, but her gaze keeps shifting to Nyssa, standing and watching the proceedings intently from the landing at the far side of the room. She doesn’t know exactly what Nyssa is watching for, but she finds herself hoping that she’s demonstrating at least a little bit of it.

Finally the trial finishes, and Sara can tell that her fellow trainees are as exhausted as she feels.

Sifu Dao steps down from the landing once more to address the cadets.

“Well done, each and every one of you. Results will be posted tomorrow. You may all go now and rest, with the exception of Cadets Wei, Hu, Xao, and Lance, you four please remain here.” The rest of their classmates shoot them puzzled glances as they file out of the room, but looking at the other three remaining, Sara can tell that none of them know exactly what is going on. Then, Nyssa steps down the stairs to address the trainees.

“My name is Nyssa,” she says, “daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, Pilot of the Jaeger Demon Heir. You may be wondering why you have been held back when the rest of your colleagues have left. I am looking for a co-pilot, and your instructors and I have decided that you four are the best candidates.” Sara’s heart leaps a little in her chest, and she frowns at the reaction. “I hope you are not too tired from your trial today, because we will also be sparring to determine our potential Drift compatibility. Good luck to you all.” Sara brushes it off as her imagination, but she’s pretty sure Nyssa’s gaze rests on her the longest as she delivers her speech. 

“You will be sparring in the order in which I called your names earlier,” Sifu Dao says, as Nyssa takes her place on the mat, idly twirling the staff one of the other combat instructors tossed to her. “Cadet Wei, you are up first.” 

Chien picks up a staff from the rack on the wall, and settles into her fighting stance. Nyssa moves impossibly fast, and the butt of the staff is at Chien’s throat before she’s even able to bring hers up to defensive position. They resettle into their stances and once again, Nyssa freezes the staff just above Chien’s forehead, although the other woman had been able to deflect the first blow. Twice more they settle into stances, and twice more Nyssa evades Chien’s defences and wins a point. 

The bouts with Hu and Xao end in similar fashion, although Hu is able to score two points, and Xao manages one. Sara smiles when it is her turn to face Nyssa. She’s had the chance to study her moves, and, luckily for her, Nyssa chose Sara’s favourite weapon for combat. Sara has always felt at her most powerful with a staff in her hands. She’s perfectly good at using other weaponry, she would have failed weeks earlier if she weren’t, but something about the bo staff just feels right.

They face each other across the mat, Nyssa’s face perfectly blank, Sara’s eyes narrowed in concentration. Suddenly Nyssa strikes, high and fast, and Sara brings up her staff to block, there’s a solid noise of wood on wood, and Nyssa spins, bringing her staff low to swing at Sara’s knees. She falls backward to her upper back and shoulders to avoid having her legs swept out from under her, and kips up from the floor, twirling her staff and aiming for Nyssa’s neck. Her blow is deflected and she can’t quite get it back up in time to defend against Nyssa bringing the staff down to hover just above her forehead. 

This time, the woman definitely smiles. “One point,” she says, as she settles back into her stance, twirling the staff a bit just for show.

Sara grits her teeth with determination and quickly feints left, before spinning right and pausing in her strike with her staff by Nyssa’s ear. “One-one,” she quips. Nyssa’s eyes narrow, then she lunges at Sara. Sara blocks and parries, but Nyssa is fast, and her staff taps Sara on her side.

“Two-one,” she says, and steps back. Sara launches herself into action, with a jumping attack to give herself to height advantage. Nyssa steps out of her path, but Sara is expecting that and lands low, bringing her staff above her head to deflect Nyssa’s and she taps her opponent in the same spot on her side.

“Two-two. Pretty evenly matched.” 

Nyssa’s lips thin and she begins circling. Sara matches her step for step. It’s strange, she’s never felt this sort of synchronicity with any of her classmates. She can almost feel when Nyssa is going to make her move. Which she does, to Sara’s left, aiming for her side. Sara blocks the blow, and they begin trading strikes, back and forth, Nyssa pressing forward, and Sara retreating, until opportunity opens for Sara to go on the offensive with a hit aiming for Nyssa’s head. Sara is smiling as she pushes Nyssa backwards with a flurry of moves. That smile is wiped off her face as Nyssa ducks underneath her strike and uses the momentum to launch herself into a butterfly twist, which turns into a sweep of her staff and Sara finds herself flat on her back on the mat. 

“Three-two,” Nyssa says, standing over her, but she gives Sara the chance to stand up. . .which is a mistake, since Sara takes the opportunity get her staff behind Nyssa’s leg and pull her down to the mat. As soon as Sara lets go, Nyssa rolls out of the position and to her feet, twirling into action with another flurry of attacks. Sara blocks and ducks and weaves, but Nyssa is pressing her closer and closer to the edge of the mat. Desperate, she dive rolls over Nyssa’s next low strike, to avoid a point for leaving the bounds of the mat, but she’s not fast enough to stand and Nyssa is standing over her, staff hovering inches from the top of her head. 

“Four-three,” Nyssa says, “but I have to say I am very impressed.” She plants one end of the staff on the floor by her feet, and allows Sara to stand. They bow to each other, and then to Sifu Dao. 

“Well done, Cadet Lance,” he says, “you and the other cadets may leave now. Results will be posted in the morning.” Bowing once more, Sara and the others file out of the room, but she can’t help but shoot a glance over her shoulder at Nyssa, who despite resuming conversation with Sifu Dao, is also looking back at her and her lips twitch upwards again in a little half smile.

The one thing that Sara really and truly misses from home is a bathtub, she thinks to herself, as she squeezes the remaining water out of her hair after her shower. She’s dressed in the comfortable, although utilitarian, pair of cotton pants and soft t-shirt the cadets are given to use as pyjamas. Tossing the wet towel she’d just used over the hook on her door, Sara sits on her bed to brush her hair and put it in a braid for the night. She’s halfway done, when there is a knock on her door. Frowning, she gets up to answer it. Nobody visits her in her room, usually; she’s not good enough friends with the others for late night visits, and they’re all too tired to socialise much anyway. She opens the door to reveal Nyssa, dressed in civilian clothes, now, skinny black jeans and a red cowl-neck blouse. Sara feels distinctly underdressed.

“Uhh, come in,” she stammers, opening the door wider. Nyssa does.

“I wanted to see you in person,” she says as she steps inside, “deliver the news myself, before morning.” Sara feels her heart speed up, if Nyssa means what she thinks she means. . . “Yes,” Nyssa says, anticipating the question at the tip of Sara’s tongue, “I have chosen, and your Sifu has agreed, to make you my new co-pilot. Congratulations, Ranger.” Sara grins, and she wants to throw her arms around Nyssa in a hug, but she suddenly feels shy in front of her. All of a sudden it hits her, this woman will soon know her better than anyone has ever known her in her life. All of her memories, good, bad, embarrassing, will be an open book for Nyssa to read. Sara has a dozen things she wants to say, but all she manages is a soft, “thank you.”

“No, Sara, thank you. But I must admit, this is not a casual visit. May I sit?” she says indicating the bed. Sara nods.

“Sure,” she says, and sits too, facing Nyssa crosslegged at the foot of the bed.

Nyssa sighs and reaches for Sara’s hands. She tangles their fingers together and it feels so natural that Sara doesn’t even question it. “Being a Ranger is a difficult job,” Nyssa begins, “and sometimes the most difficult part is not fighting the Kaiju, not battling the real monsters, but the inner ones. Having to share everything about yourself with another human being. In the Drift there are no secrets, no shadows to hide in. I came here tonight because I want to make the process easier.” She pauses for a moment, and traces her thumb over Sara’s knuckles.

“Before the Kaiju came, I was part of an. . .organisation. My father was the head of this League. A league of assassins.” Sara tenses, but she doesn’t pull away and Nyssa keeps running her thumbs back and forth across the back of Sara’s hands. “I need you to know this. I need you to know this because I cannot lose another partner to chasing the rabbit. My sister, she knew about my past, she was involved. But there was one instance. . .father asked me to take care of a mark. Someone who had particular meaning to Talia. I did. This was the memory that she followed. It is partially my fault that many people almost died, and my sister is never allowed to Drift again. You need to know my secrets first, before you see them. That way, you will be better prepared.” Nyssa’s gaze is fixated on their joined hands, and it is Sara’s turn to start running her thumbs across the softness of Nyssa’s skin.

“Well, if we’re sharing secrets, it’s only fair you hear mine as well,” she says. “My family died thinking I was dead. They were in Starling City when it fell, but I was on mainland China. The reason I was there was because I’d gotten on a boat with my sister’s boyfriend to spite her for some petty thing she’d said to me. The Kaiju, the first one to attack this side of the Pacific, it caused a shipwreck. Ollie. . .my sister’s boyfriend, he drowned along with his father and the rest of the crew. I somehow survived. I slept with him to spite Laurel, and I never saw her again. I wanted to fight the Kaiju for taking everyone I love away from me. Including my only friend in the past few years. I want revenge, and I know that’s dangerous, but right now that is what is driving me to be the best. I won’t be passive anymore.” Nyssa squeezes Sara’s fingers once, briefly, then drops them. Sara’s hands feel oddly empty without Nyssa’s there.

“It seems we both have regrets in our pasts. Let us agree that we will both be stronger than our histories. I will see you tomorrow, Ranger.”

Sara can’t deny the thrill that rises up in her when she hears the title being directed at her. No matter what dark things are in Nyssa’s memories, they are just memories now. The important thing is working towards ensuring a future for everyone.

“See you tomorrow, partner,” Sara says, and Nyssa’s lips twitch upwards in her little half smile, before she slips out of the room.


End file.
